Referral settings control where referral links take friends, how customers can share, when advocates get paid and how your program is protected from abuse. They apply across your referrals, so set them up before you launch a campaign.
To find them, open Mage Loyalty, click Referrals in the left menu and then click Settings. After making changes, click Save in the bar at the top of the page.
Guest Referrals, Advocate Reward Timing and Fraud Prevention are part of Referral Campaigns and require the Growth plan or above.
Referrals Redirection URL
This is the page friends land on when they click a referral link.
Setting | What it does |
Referrals Landing URL Domain | Your store's domain. It is filled in for you. |
Referrals Landing URL Path | The page on your store to send friends to, for example pages/refer-a-friend. Leave it blank to use your homepage. |
For the best results, point the path at a page that has your campaign block on it. This gives friends a clear page explaining the offer. See Embedding a Campaign on Your Store.
Social Sharing Settings
Choose which share buttons customers see next to their referral link. Customers can always copy their link, whichever buttons you choose.
Setting | What it does |
Adds a WhatsApp share button. Use Message to send via WhatsApp to set the text that is sent with the link. | |
Adds a Facebook share button. | |
X / Twitter | Adds an X share button. Use Message to tweet to set the text that is posted with the link. |
Lets customers enter their friends' email addresses so Mage Loyalty emails them an invite. Requires the Starter plan or above. | |
SMS | Adds a text message share button. Use Message to send via SMS to set the message. Requires the Starter plan or above. |
Email sharing sends the Referral Invite Email. If that template is switched off, friends will not receive an invite, and a reminder appears under the Email checkbox. Turn it on under Email Templates.
Guest Referrals
Setting | What it does |
Allow guest referrals | Lets visitors refer friends by entering their email address, without logging in to a customer account. Guests receive a one-time-use discount code when their friend makes a purchase. A guest has no account to view the code in, so it only reaches them through the Referrer Reward Email or your email tool (see Email Templates below). Off by default. When it is off, logged out visitors see a button asking them to log in. |
Advocate Reward Timing
Choose when the advocate receives their reward after the referred friend pays for their order.
Option | What it does |
Delay after payment (Recommended) | Waits a set number of days after the friend pays, then sends the reward, unless the order has been cancelled or refunded. Set the number of days in Reward delay (1 to 90). The default is 14 days. |
Send on fulfillment | Sends the reward once the friend's order has been fulfilled. Orders that are only partially fulfilled will need manual approval from the campaign's View Referrals page. |
Send on payment | Sends the reward as soon as the friend pays, before the order can be cancelled or refunded. |
Whichever option you choose, a cancellation or refund of the friend's order is handled the same way. A reward that has not been sent yet is not sent. A reward that has already been sent is withdrawn if the advocate has not used it: the code is deactivated and the advocate is not notified. In both cases the referral shows Order cancelled and can no longer be approved. A reward the advocate has already used is never taken back, and the referral stays Completed. A partial refund only has this effect when it takes the order below the friend reward's minimum spend.
A delay protects you from rewarding orders that are later cancelled or refunded. Choose a delay at least as long as your returns window.
Changing this setting affects orders paid from then on. Referrals that are already waiting keep the reward date they were given.
Fraud Prevention
These settings stop people from abusing your referral rewards. Blocked attempts are listed in the Blocked tab of each campaign's View Referrals page, with the reason.
Setting | What it does |
Block email aliases | Treats variations of the same email address as one person. For example, [email protected] is treated as [email protected]. |
Block self-referrals | Stops advocates from referring themselves using the same or a similar email address. On by default. |
Block advocate self-claims | Stops advocates from claiming their own referral link on the same browser or device. |
Block same IP | Limits how many claims can come from the same internet connection for a campaign. Set Maximum claims per IP (default 5) and Time window (days) (default 7). |
Block same device | Blocks any device that has already claimed a referral on your store. This catches one person creating several email addresses to claim again and again. |
Some protection is always on. Friends who have ordered from your store before cannot claim, and each email address can only claim once per campaign.
Email Templates
Click Manage email templates to set up the referral emails Mage Loyalty sends. All three are switched off until you turn them on:
Referral Invite Email: sent to a friend when an advocate invites them by email.
Referral Discount Email: sent to the friend with their discount code.
Referrer Reward Email: sent to the advocate when they receive their reward.
Basic Referrals codes are only sent by these Mage Loyalty emails, so keep the Referral Discount Email and Referrer Reward Email turned on if you use Basic Referrals. For Referral Campaigns, Mage Loyalty also sends referral events with the discount codes to Klaviyo, Omnisend, Postscript and Attentive, so you can send these messages from those tools instead. Switch the referral events on in that integration first.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Turning on Email sharing without the Referral Invite Email template. Customers can fill in the share form but friends never receive the invite. Switch the template on under Email Templates.
Choosing Send on payment without thinking about returns. The reward goes out before the order can be cancelled or refunded, and it can only be withdrawn if the advocate has not used it. Use Delay after payment if refunds are common.
Choosing Send on fulfillment when orders often ship in parts. Partially fulfilled orders wait for you to approve them by hand. Use Delay after payment instead, or check View Referrals regularly.
Leaving fraud prevention switched off. Even small stores can be targeted by people creating extra email addresses. Turn on at least Block email aliases, Block self-referrals and Block advocate self-claims.
Troubleshooting
Friends are not receiving email invites
Check that the Referral Invite Email template is switched on under Email Templates.
If your Referral Campaign invites are sent from Klaviyo, Omnisend, Postscript or Attentive, check the flow in that tool.
Genuine friends are being blocked
Open the campaign's View Referrals page and check the Blocked tab for the reason.
People in the same household or office often share an internet connection. Raise Maximum claims per IP or turn off Block same IP.
Friends who have ordered from you before are always blocked, as referral rewards are for new customers.
I can't see Guest Referrals, Advocate Reward Timing or Fraud Prevention
These settings are part of Referral Campaigns and require the Growth plan or above.